Seems Like I’m Always Catching Up . . .

Here we go again – this fall has been so busy that I keep seeing “blog fodder” moments but rarely have time to share them – I checked my calendar recently and I had been on the road 12 days out of the previous 20.  So when my cup overflows, I have to sit down and share several of them in scattershot fashion.  Some of this you may find interesting.  If not, just keep reading – and I’ll change to another subject.

The last time I did this, I had just returned from a golf trip and a trip to the Ryder Cup with my brother, and posted a picture of my mom after her first perm since her chemo started.  So let’s move on . . .

I spent the first weekend in October in Fort Wayne, Indiana – we have come here for a long time, but this was the first time with new promoters (Steve and Michelle from Toomuchfun).  They did a great job drawing a crowd.  But this feline wasn’t at the show – she(?) was underneath a fence next to the walk leading to my hotel side entrance.  Good thing I snapped the picture immediately – as soon as I walked closer, she headed for a safer spot.

Robin Arnold has learned of multiple items that can be “Verdayed” (Cheryl, are you watching this?).  I probably missed a few, but I saw metal, cardstock, plastic, rocks from the parking lot . . .

During teardown, we got another visit from Kisha, the Arnold’s very friendly canine.  She has kept us company as we dismantled the booth for the past two years.  And this time, she had a friend – Trish Dangler’s dog was there as well.

Last Tuesday was my birthday, and my wish from last year came true – at 6:53 a.m., my phone rang and on the other end were two healthy parents singing to me as they have every year for as long as I can remember.  Good thing Zoe was the only one around to witness the tears of joy that flowed after I hung up.  At 12:30, Blake and I met at Mom and Dad’s place for lunch – this is the only thing I ask for each year, and for an hour or so it’s just the four of us again.  I guess the moment was more important than the pictures – this was the only one I shot, and it was horribly out of focus (partly because Mom never stands still).

And I’m not quite correct – I asked for two things this year.  The Cincinnati Reds had a chance to sweep the San Francisco Giants in three straight games to advance in the National League Playoffs, and Blake and I had tickets to the game.  It seemed only fitting for the Reds to win on my birthday – unfortunately, they couldn’t get a hit with runners on base.  Two days later they had lost three in a row, and the Giants moved on while the Reds started their winter.

But we still had fun.  We started our afternoon at the Reds Hall of Fame, next to Great American Ball Park.  For a Reds’ fan, it’s a little like traveling to Mecca – full of all of the highlights starting when the team was formed in 1869.

This was a blast – in the Hall of Fame, there is a “speed pitch” area where you can throw from a “mound” to a batter at home plate from the major league distance of 60’ 6” (which is a loooooong way) and the sensors will record the speed of the pitch and whether it was a ball or a strike.  It took a little while to get used to the distance.  Blake shot several pictures of me, and I was able to put three of them together so you can see the form on my blistering 39 mph fastball . . .

Our seats weren’t great, but we had a great view of the park, the Ohio River outside, and the Goodyear blimp flying over the park (not to mention the huge bird that snuck into the blimp picture and then flew right at us before swooping up and away from us).  I discovered a couple of days later that the blimp has quite a support crew . . .

I encountered this caravan on I-70 heading through Western Pennsylvania last Thursday.  Don’t worry – I kept my eyes on the road, pointed my camera at the next lane, and shot at least 30 pictures rapid fire, hoping that a few of them would turn out so I could share this.  And I still missed the pickup truck that completed the four-vehicle support team.

Last Wednesday, Mom and Dad headed back to Arizona for the fall – and this is what they encountered when they arrived – the road in front of their place was being dug up and repaved.  If they had arrived a day later, I’m not sure they could have gotten their car out of the driveway.  But they had quite a view out their front window . . .

At the York show, we discovered that our friend Sara Wagner has what it takes to be a demo artist!  Sue Rothamel had brought some Make & Take projects along and asked Sara if she wanted to share them with our customers on Saturday – what she did was so popular that she ran out of packets in three hours and had to come up with a new project on the fly!

Monday was the annual Pumpkin Carving Night at my house.  Ryan and Emily surprised me by inviting me to go see Taken 2 with them before we went pumpkin hunting at Sam’s Club (my short review – if you loved the first one as much as we did, wait for the sequel to come out on DVD).  Then we started carving – mine is in the middle between Ryan’s and Emily’s.  And I was able to get this shot of Zoe licking Emily’s face while Ryan was trying to position her for the “formal” picture.

Once I took enough pictures in the kitchen, the pumpkins went out on the front porch rail, where they will peek in the front window at us as long as the candles last.

And now I think I’m caught up again . . .